Unemployment and suicide: a cohort analysis of social factors predicting suicide in the US National Longitudinal Mortality Study

Background. The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of employmen t status measured at baseline on the risk of suicide by years of follow-up, using a large nationally representative sample of the US population. Methods. Cox regression models were applied to data from the National Longi tudinal Mortality Study, based on the 1979-1989 follow-up. In estimating th e effect of baseline employment status on suicide, adjustments were made fo r baseline demographic and socio-economic variables. Results. After 3 years of follow-up, unemployed men were a little over twic e as likely to commit suicide as their employed counterparts. Among men, th e lower the socio-economic status, the higher the suicide risk. Among women , in each year of follow-up, the unemployed had a much higher suicide risk than the employed. After 9 years of follow-up unemployed women were over th ree times more likely to kill themselves than their employed counterparts. Conclusions. Unemployment is strongly related to suicide, but this relation ship is more enduring and stronger among women. For men, the unemployment e ffect is stronger at earlier years of follow-up. In women, unemployment inc reases the risk of suicide regardless of the number of follow-up years. The finding with regard to women disconfirms earlier research reports suggesti ng that unemployment affects suicide only in men.